‘We especially don’t need to go after the shooter. He has no interest in the rest of us. He’s had his revenge, done and dusted. All he wants now is to get on with a quiet life, I expect.’

‘But you’ve kept him in your pocket? In case you need a special job doing?’

‘In a manner of speaking. He has no idea he’s been used. Or that he might need to be used again. But I’m keeping a nice close eye on him. After all, who knows when we might need someone like that again?’

Acknowledgements

In making this unexpected leap from historical fiction to contemporary thriller writing (unexpected to me, at least, when the idea came to me in a Brisbane hotel bedroom at two in the morning), I have found myself grateful to a number of people. To Robin Wade, both for his initial encouragement as my agent, and then for his impeccable taste in picking out a replacement agent with the experience and skills to maximise the opportunity presented by Nemesis, when he decided to pass the baton. His generosity in making that move in such good spirit leaves me both in awe and in his debt. I am of course indebted to Robin for his calm and sensible guidance of my writing career across the first twelve books of the Empire series, and the Centurions trilogy, and the way in which he facilitated my move to Sara O'Keefe at Aevitas Creative was textbook Wade, drama-free and expertly managed. Thank you, Robin!

Sara has quickly proven herself to be (as Robin intimated would be the case) exactly the right agent to take on a book that was very different to my previous work, both in terms of content and style. Her suggestions were subtle but went straight to the heart of the matter, inspiring a transformation in Nemesis that turned it from a good book to something even better and, I am absolutely certain, pushed it across the line into being publishable. My gratitude is considerable, both for that invaluable advice and for managing the process of finding the right publisher with the essential blend of determination and good humour, given the challenging circumstances in mid-2020.

Nic Cheetham and Holly Domney at Head of Zeus/Aries both showed the sort of enthusiasm and expertise that inspire an author to place their work in the hands of fellow professionals, and I am grateful for their commitment at a difficult time for the industry. Let's hope that Nemesis can repay that trust! And while we're talking about editors, I'm also grateful to Carolyn Caughey at Hodder for her patience at this unexpected distraction from my other genre.

I must also mention someone whose insights were a large part of painting Mickey Bale's backstory, not to mention his pointing me in the right direction when it came to my characters' fashion and firearm choices. Dan Monisse, you're golden!